The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling the reservation for goods and the like, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for controlling the reservation for goods and the like, which perform the reservation for tangible and/or intangible various goods and the like through communication means, and thereafter where there occurs a situation in that the contents and the like of various goods, such as reserved goods and services, are changed by the reserving party side, as well as even where an emergency situation, such as various troubles, occurs on the other party side for providing various goods, such as reserved goods and services, the purpose of the both parties is achieved.
Heretofore, as an art of reserving tangible and/or intangible various goods and the like, as mentioned above, there is, for example, art described in the official gazette of Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-103914.
That is, the art described in the above-mentioned official gazette, which patent was filed by the present applicant, and which field of application is not limited at all, is most suitable particularly for reserving medical examinations and the like in hospitals and the like.
Such art, when applied, for example, as a reservation system for hospitals and the like, includes the steps of: sending a reservation for the order of the date and time of visiting hospital and/or medical examination and the like for each patient, who calls the extension-line or the outside-line telephone within a hospital and the like, by an order setting computer connected to the extension-line and/or the outside-line telephones; thereafter inputting the identification data for each patient who reserved the order, on that day of reservation, into the order setting computer, thereby confining the reservation for the order of the date and time of visiting hospital and/or medical examination and the like for each patient; thereafter setting for each of the reserving patient a caller provided with calling means which can receive different electromagnetic waves for each of the patient and send an outside notification only when received a specified electromagnetic wave, and then lending the caller to the patient; and thereafter sending identification electromagnetic waves differing for each reservation order inputted into the order setting computer to respective callers provided by the patient according to the order of the date and time of visiting hospital and/or medical examination and the like for each of the reserved patient by means of an automatic calling unit connected to the order setting computer, thereby sequentially calling the calling means of the specified caller.
Thus, according to the art described in the above-mentioned official gazette, a patient or the like having reserved the order of the date and time of visiting hospital and/or medical examination and the like through an order setting computer connected to telephones can reserve a more reliable and correct order of the date and time of visiting a hospital and/or a medical examination and the like through various information regarding special medicines, such as internal medicine and surgery, sent in real time to the order setting computer, and in addition, the calling of medical examination and the like for each patient in a waiting room and the like can be reliably performed through calls supplied to the patients and through an automatic calling unit connected to the order setting computer at a precise reserved time without being affected entirely by a noisy environment in the waiting room and the like.
However, in a reservation system having the above-mentioned configuration, there have existed the following problems.
When the reservation system having the above-mentioned configuration is applied to a hospital and the like, the system has an advantage that, regardless of the size of the hospital and the like, the system can issue the reservation for the order of the date and time of visiting a hospital and/or a medical examination and the like for each patient through telephones, thereby not only reducing at least to one, or completely to none, a number of persons who belong to the hospital and the like, and who are in charge of reservation of the order of medical examination and the like, but also performing reliably the calling of the medical examination of patients and the like waiting in a waiting room and the like at a precise reservation time without being affected entirely by a noisy environment in the waiting room and the like. However, unfortunately, regardless of the field of art applied, all reservations for the order established through an order setting computer are not always established, and thus there may occur an urgent situation wherein the contents and the like of various goods, such as goods and services reserved through the order setting computer must be changed by the reserving party side, or there may occur an emergency situation, such as various troubles on the other party side providing various goods and the like, such as goods and services reserved, must be addressed without being limited to the hospital and the like receiving reservation.
Therefore, even when the reservation system of the above-mentioned configuration is applied to various fields of art without being limited to the reservation in a hospital and the like, where there occurs a situation in that various goods and the like, such as goods and services reserved, must be canceled, it is sufficient to notify the order setting computer of the effect, but, for example, where there occurs an urgent situation in that various conditions such as the contents of various goods and the like such as goods and services reserved must be changed by the reserving party side, various reservations stored and controlled in the order setting computer must be at once canceled and then a new reservation for various goods and the like must be established again, whereby there may occur a case where, if the time required for reservation becomes even somewhat longer when establishing again various reservations having different conditions, various goods and the like such as goods and services to be reserved cannot be set on the date and time initially reserved.
Further, the change of the contents of various goods and the like, such as goods and services, once reserved does not always occur only on the reserving party side, and an emergency situation, such as various troubles, may also occur on the other party side for providing various goods, such as reserved goods and services. Particularly where an emergency situation, such as various troubles, occurs on the other party side for providing various goods such as reserved goods and services, the follow up to the reserving party is still not considered to be perfect, so that, for example, there may occur a case where the reserving party is notified through a postal matter, such as postcards indicating the emergency situation, and in the worst case, the party may be notified through a reservation window or a goods receiving place of the emergency situation on that day.
Thus, even for the notification through a postal matter of the emergency situation, a loss of several days from reservation establishment occurs, and in addition, a notification of the emergency situation at a reservation window or a goods receiving place on that day may not only cause an absolute confidence for the reserving party to be lost, but may also cause a damage to be claimed particularly when reserved various goods and the like are very important goods and the like for the reserving party, whereby there has existed a very serious problem that for not only the reserving party establishing a reservation, but also the other party providing various goods such as reserved goods and services, a smooth corrective action is desirable for both the parties to the change of the contents of various reserved goods and the like and to address the emergency situation, such as various troubles. In particular the reserving party must be reliably notified in real time not only of the change of the contents of various goods and the like initially reserved, but also of the reserved contents of various goods and the like such as goods and services thereafter changed or canceled.
However, the present invention solves all the above-mentioned problems, and the object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus of controlling the reservation for goods and the like, in which where there occurs a situation in that the contents and the like of various goods, such as reserved goods and services, are changed by the reserving party side, as well as even where an emergency situation, such as various troubles, occurs on the other party side for providing various goods such as reserved goods and services, the apparatus can achieve smoothly and reliably the purpose of the both parties in real time for 24 hours through no human power.